User:Itcwaterloo/International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project

The International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project) is an international cohort survey of tobacco use which evaluates the psychosocial and behavioural effects of national-level tobacco control policies throughout the world. It is designed to assist policy makers in the implementation of evidence-based tobacco control policies. The project is a transdisciplinary collaborative effort with international health organizations and policy makers in 20 countries.

The study focuses on whether a given policy has its desired effect as well as how and why those policy effects are achieved. Survey start dates are chosen to follow changes in national-level tobacco policies according to the recommendations of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The surveys continue over a five year period to monitor the impact of the policy changes as they are implemented, allowing researchers to perform a series of multiple natural experiments.

The ITC Policy Evaluation Project started its first project, the ITC Four-Country Project in 2002, to measure the psychosocial and behavioural factors of smoking in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Project is currently in its eighth wave of data collection. The other ITC countries joined the project at different times after the Four-Country project began, and therefore are in different waves of data collection.

The original ITC surveys were conducted using telephone interviewing. With the introduction of ITC-Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Thailand), a new face-to-face interview was conducted with respondents. Now, most of the ITC countries use telephone and online interviewing, although some countries such as Malaysia and China use a mixture of telephone and face-to-face interviewing.

Countries Involved in the ITC Project
Australia  Bangladesh  Bhutan  Brazil  Canada  China (Mainland) France  Germany  India  Ireland/Scotland  Malaysia  Mauritius  Mexico  Netherlands  New Zealand  South Korea  Thailand <BR> United Kingdom <BR> Uruguay <BR> United States <BR>

ITC Objectives
The ITC Project evaluates FCTC policies at the level of the individual smoker, identifies the determinants of effective tobacco control policies, and disseminates its research findings to the global tobacco control community, including researchers, policy makers, and advocates.

Current ITC Project initiatives

 * ITC China: Collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Health to conduct ITC surveys in 7 Chinese cities to evaluate smoke-free initiatives of the 2008 Olympic Games


 * ITC Europe: Partnerships with tobacco research institutes in France, Germany, and the Netherlands for evaluation of smoke-free initiatives, including computer-assisted self-interview research methods


 * ITC India and Bangladesh: ITC surveys will measure prevalence of cigarette use and other forms of tobacco use including waterpipe, smokeless tobacco, and bidis


 * ITC Mauritius: Evaluation of the first-ever pictorial warning labels in Africa, and among the world's largest labels


 * ITC Bhutan: Evaluation of smoking prevalence and the impact of the world's first ban on the sale of tobacco


 * ITC Four Country: An 8-year cohort survey of over 6,000 adult smokers to guide effective policies in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia including evaluation of new national policies enacted under the U.S. FDA Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

ITC Research Team
The ITC International Research team includes over 80 tobacco control researchers in 20 countries worldwide. Its Principal Investigators are:

Geoffrey T. Fong – University of Waterloo, Canada <BR> Mary E. Thompson – University of Waterloo, Canada <BR> K. Michael Cummings – Roswell Park Cancer Institute, United States <BR> Ron Borland – The Cancer Council Victoria, Australia <BR> Richard J. O’Connor – Roswell Park Cancer Institute, United States <BR> David Hammond – University of Waterloo, Canada <BR> Gerard Hastings – University of Stirling and the Open University, United Kingdom <BR> Ann McNeill – University of Nottingham, United Kingdom <BR>